I'm back from a 4 month intermission (have to pay the bills and an ideal full-time IT job came up, working as Programme Test Manager for the new DisabilityCare Australia software setup). And I'm back into writing up the thesis. It is all coming together nicely and God willing I can have a first draft ready by mid-2014. Just before intermission I presented a paper at the Severus Symposium held March 2013 in Melbourne, to be included as book chapter in the Symposium publication...
"The
continuing debate about, and focus on, Severus' Christology has obscured the extent to
which his ascetic approach was fully in accordance with the Cappadocian
and Syrian church fathers. This continuity is evident in Severus'
Homily on the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste when compared to similar works
by Aphrahat, Ps. Macarius, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, and the
later Isaac of Nineveh. This paper analyses aspects of Severus' Homily
18 in relation to Cappadocian and Syriac traditions, detecting elements
of Syrian provenance in his discussion of spiritual combat and
perfection."
